Winch with after drag rollers



Dec. 11, 1956 MIDDLEDITCH, JR 2,773,587

WINCH WITH AF'I-ER DRAG ROLLERS Filed March 16, 1954 IN V EN TOR. L 'mun lV/ Od/ec/i 7c h, -f.

ATTORNB United States Patent WIN CH WITH AFTERDRAGSROLLERS LymanMiddleditch, Jr Albuquerque, N. Mex., assignor to the United Statesof America as represented by the Secretary of the Army Application March 16, 1954, Scrial No. 416,727

1 Claim. (Cl. 203-200) (Granted under Title 35,-U. S..Code (1952), sec. 266) The invention described-herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, without thepayment-of any royalty thereon.

This invention-relates to a new anduseful winch, and more particularlyto an improved winch having its associatedline under tension.

Conditions of winch operation are often such that the winding or unwinding of the winch .is ;not under tension of a load; in such cases the line will tend, according to its own springiness, to slacken around the drum and slip or snarl. Under other conditions, there'may normally be a ,load tension but such tens-ion is unreliable; when the slackening does occur, the elasticity or whipping of the line as well as its springiness may. produce a snar-lof the line or cause its slipping therein. 7

Accordingly it is a primary object of the present invention'to provide a winch wherein continuous. and eflicient operation may 'be maintained under slackloads'or slack line feed.

it is another object of the lPIBSfiIltzllllVfiIltlOll to provide a winch wherein continuous and 'eflicient'operation may, be maintained under varying loads.

Another object of the invention is to provide a winch wherein the need of a manual application of tension is eliminated.

It is still another object of the present invention to 'effect an eflicient and continuously operating winch with a minimum of moving parts.

These and other objects of the invention will be-more apparent from the following description and ,claim.

In accordance with the invention, a winch mounted on a housing frame is driven at a speed in a predetermined ratio with auxiliary wheels, said Wheels being freely mounted on the same housing framezand which, grip, under tension, the line associated with the winch. By this arrangement, the auxiliary wheels v.pay in no more-line to the winch drum during its winding and pay out no less line during the unwinding of the drum than is respectively wound and unwound by the drum.

Generally, the terms paying in or paying out used in the field of winch operation are to be understood broadly as covering respectively the winding and unwinding of the winch at either the load end or the free or source end. However, for purposes of clarity, in the description that follows, the terms paying in and paying out are intended to refer specifically to the winding and unwinding respectively of the load line only; while the terms feeding in and feeding out refer to the winding and unwinding respectively of the source end.

The invention will be more fully understood from the drawings in whichf Figure 1 is a plan view of the device embodying the present invention;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the device of Figure 1, and

Figure -3 is a View in perspective of one form of tensioning device heretofore used.

The device as shown in Figures 1 and 2 includes a standard winch, including two grooved drums 2 and 4 for winding and unwinding a line 3-4. The free end of line 34 may be securedto a free floating object, such as a balloon, the other end being wound about a reel (not shown). The grooves of drums 2 and 4 arefor the purpose of minimizing the slippage of winch line 34. The drums 2 and 4 extend upwardly ctrom one end of frame 6 and are rotatably mounted on shafts 8 and 10 rwpectively. Shafts Sand 10 are each supported at one end within a -comm-on bearing 12. Shafts '8 and 10 are driven by gears 14 and 16 respectively, both of said gears'being driven by a gear 18 mounted on .a drive shaft 20. vDrive shaft .20 extends through the underside of frame 6 and is manually'operated by a crank handle 24 and arm 22 afiixed to drive shaft 20. Obviously, any driving force maybe adapted to operate shaft 20 by methods well known in the art, such as, for example, a motor. The winchthus far described is well known to the art and typifies the best features of the conventional winch. It performs satisfactorily for some conditions, but is liable to snarl or slip under slack or lightening load conditions. It is to be understood, of course, that although the aforedescribedstandard winch is incorporated for purposes of illustrating the invention, any other suitable winch may be adapted to the scheme of the invention according to the conditions of operation by the methods well known in the art.

Heretofore, one of the methods of maintaining tension upon the line wound upon the drum and precluding slackening wasto utilize a device such as that shown in Fig ure 3. The device of Figure 3 includes a pair of pivotably mounted opposing casings which are of the same general configuration. Each of the casings has two concavities on either side of a centrally disposed hub portion so disposed relative to each other that when the two casings are placed 'in position about the drums 2 and 4, the drums are completely encompassed by the device. Extending through the hub port-ion of each casing are rotatable rollers 36 and =38 supported on their respective shafts 40 and 42. The contour of the casings is such that when they are placed in position about the drums, the respective roller of each casing bears against the winch line windings, particularly by bearing into the spacing between the drums. The depth inward to which the winch line windings are pressed in tension by the rollers is determined by the tightness to which the easings are closed over the drums. This tightness is established and adjusted by a bolt, one end of which is fixed into one of said casings while the other end is variably adjust-able through the other of said casings. The casings described are pivotably affixed to to the framework of the winch in any desired manner, such as by a pair of pins carried by the framework.

While such tensioning means have afforded some protection against slackening of the winch line, nevertheless under certain conditions it has been found that it does not adequately serve to properly maintain the tension of the winch line.

The description immediately following is that of a conventional winch with the improved tensioning device of the present invention. It isto be under-stood of course that the two-part tensioning casing shown in Figure 3 and described above is not included.

In accordance with my invention, there is aflixed to the conventional winch described above means for accomplishing each of the objectives of the invention. Such means comprises the assembly hereinafter described and includes the following: Extending upwardly through the frame 6 and suit-ably spaced from the drums 2 and 4 are a pair of parallel aligned shafts 52 and 54. Shaft 52 is longer than shaft '54 so that in effect the shafts are offset from each other. Shaft #52 is rotatably mounted 3 in a bearing 60 which is aflixed to the underside of frame 6. Shaft 54 is rotatably mounted in bearing 64 which is slidably adjustable, in a slot 62 provided in the frame 6, said slot being perpendicular to the shaft 54. Movement of the shaft 54, within slot 62 is accomplished by means of an adjustment device comprising a hollow rectangular shaiped housing 66 having a slidable block 68 therein. Block 68 is provided with a longitudinal bore through which the shaft 54 extends. Housing '66 in addition has an elongated screw 72 extending laterally through and threadably engaging the end wall 76 of said housing therein and aflixed to the sli-dable block 68, Accordingly as screw 72 is either screwed into or away from the end wall 73 of housing 66, the position of shaft 54 relative to shaft 52 is altered. Housing 66 is further provided with a fixed block 70 having a bore through which shaft '52 longitudinally extends, affording rigidity to the shaft.

Afiixed to one end of each of the shafts 52 and 54 above the top surface of frame 6 are grooved wheels 56 and 58 respectively, coplanar to each other, and both of which are substantially coplanar to the drums 2 and 4.

On the underside of frame 6, mounted on shafts 8 and 10 are sprockets 74 and 76 respectively and mounted on shafts 52 and 54 are sprockets 7'8 and 80 respectively. A chain 82 links sprockets 74 and 80, and a chain 84 links sprockets 76 and 78. Thus drive shaft 20 rotatably drives drums 2 and 4 and simultaneously drives grooved wheels 56 and 58 through the chain and sprocket arrangement associated therewith. The ratio of sprockets 74 and 76 to sprockets 80 and 78 respectively is such that the amount of winding and unwinding of winch line 34 by drums 2 and 4 is equal respec tively in length to the amount of paying in and out of winch line 34 by grooved wheels 56 and 58.

In the description of the operation of the device that follows, reference will be made to Figure 1. In operation, the feed source (not shown) usually in the form of a reel or the like, is located to the right of the device as shown in Figure 1, while the free end of the line extending from the left side is secured to a balloon or other suitable free floating object. If it is desired to feed out wire from the feed source and to allow the line to be payed out between the wheels 56 and 58, the arm 22 is rotated counterclockwise. Such counterclockwise movement is imparted to the gear 18 which effects clockwise movement of drums 2 and 4. The line 34 in its movement from the drums 2, 4 to the left, travels between the wheels 56 and 58. It is to be understood of course that wheels 56 and 58 are spaced to allow the width of line of screw 72 and block 68. As drums 2, 4 are being rotated, wheels '56 and 58 will simultaneously he rotated by movement of sprockets 78 and 80 through chain drives 82 and 84. The movement of the line 34 between the wheels 56 and '58 will effect clockwise rotation of wheel '56 and counterclockwise rotation of wheel 58. Because of the aforedescribed ratio, wheels 56 and 58 dnaw fully all of line 34 unwound from drums 2 and 4, and thus there is never any slack present around drums 2 and 4 during unwinding. When it is desired to draw in the balloon, the operation is reversed and drums 2 and 4 and wheels 56 and '58 in turn in a direction opposite to that previously described. Thereupon wheels 56 and 58 draw upon the load and feed drums 2 and 4 in even tension and there is no slack about drums 2 and 4 during winding.

While there has been described what is at present considered to be the preferred embodiment of this invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the invention, and it is therefore aimed in the appended claim to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

A line winch comprising a frame, first and second shafts extending transversely through said frame, a drum carried on each of said shafts, each of said drums having a plurality of opposing similar grooves in register on the respective outer peripheries of each of said drums where- 'by said line is continuously wound about the grooves of the drums, means operatively associated with said shafts for elfecting mutual rotation thereof, first and second sprockets mounted respectively on each of said first and second shafts on one side of said frame, tensioning means for said line comprising third and fourth shafts extending transversely through said frame, each having first and second ends, a pair of aligned substantially coplanar friction wheels, each of said wheels being positioned on the first ends respectively of said third and fourth shafts on the other side of said frame relative to said sprockets, third and fourth sprockets mounted respectively on the second ends of said third and fourth shafts, said third and fourth sprockets being respectively in register with said first and second sprockets, and discrete chain drives linking said sprockets in register for effecting mutual rotation of said drums and wheels.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 42,465 Davies Apr. 26, 1864 581,754 Mock May 4, 1897 1,078,010 Tobey Nov. 11, 1913 

